Road sander for vehicles



Dec. 8, 1936. R. BOWMAN ROAD SANDER FoRvEHIcLEs Filed NOV. 6, 1955 Patented Dec. 8, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

My invention relates to road sanding apparatus and particularly to such apparatus for incorporation in vehicles.

Road and pavement surfaces made slippery by 5 water, mud or ice are diicult to stop a moving vehicle on, cause the stopping distance of a vehicle thereon to be excessive and are conducive to skidding of vehicles. These undesirable characteristics of wet, muddy and icy surfaces may, of

course, be alleviated to a considerable extent by application of sand, or the like, to such surfaces.

An object of my invention'is to provide apparatus adapted to be carried by a vehicle for sanding the road or pavement ahead of the wheels of the vehicle.

Another object is to provide such apparatus having effective control means and eliminating the need for using gates or valves as control means.

Still another object is to provide such apparatus capable of delivering sand at a suitable rate which is independent of changes in the quantity of sand on hand in the apparatus.

Yet another object is to provide such apparatus which is well adapted for electrical control thereof.

A further object is to provide such apparatus of simple, inexpensive, rugged, effective and reliable construction.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will more fully appear from the following description, made in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein like reference characters refer to the same or similar parts throughout the various views, and, in which,

Fig. 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of an embodiment of my invention, and

Fig. 2 is an end view broken away in portions to show certain parts in vertical section.

Referring to the drawing, means for containing a supply of granular material such as the sand S is provided in the form of a box 3 having an open top normally closed by a cover 3a.

A housing 4, the purpose of which will be apparent from a subsequent portion of this description, is placed in the central portion of the interior of the sand containing box or reservoir 3 and is secured at its lower end to the bottom wall 3b of the box 3. The upper end of the housing 4 is open but is normally covered by a peaked cover 4a in order to prevent entrance of sand into the interior of the housing 4.

A chamber 5 is formed immediately outwardly of each of the end walls 3c of the box 3 with the end walls 3c serving as respective common walls between the interior of the box 3 and the interiors of the respective chambers 5. A strip 5a of material, bent into a U-shape and secured at its inner edge to an end wall 3c forms the sides and arcuate bottom ofthe chamber 5. Somewhat in- 5 wardly of the outer edges of the U-shaped strips 5a, outer walls 5b of the chamber 5 extend upwardly from the lower extremity of the chamber 5 to a level slightly above half the total height of the chamber 5, and are secured at their side and 1o edges to the outer edges of the U-shaped strip 5a 20 and has an upper portion 6b sloping inwardly and upwardly to the outer edge of the top wall 5c to form a compartment 6 for receiving sand.

The lowermost portion of each of the end walls 3c of the box 3 is provided with an aperture 1 25 constituting a restricted passage between the lower portions of the reservoir 3 and the chamber 5.

The lower end of each of the compartments formed by the walls E is connected to the upper 30 end of a conduit 8 whose open lower end is situated just forward of a wheel W of the vehicle on which my device is installed.

A drive shaft 9 is provided extending longitudinally of my device from one to the other of the 35` outer walls 5by of the respective chambers 5 through suitable apertures in the respective end walls 3c of the box 3 and the end walls 4b of the housingll so that the respective end portions of the shaft 9 are disposed in the respective cham- 4o bers 5 and the medial portion in the housing 4. At each of the respective walls 5b, 3c and 4br bearings I are provided which are secured to the walls and in which the shaft 9 is journalled.

While any desired source of rotative mechanical 45 power may be employed to rotate the shaft 9, it is preferable that an electric motor such as the motor II be used for this purpose. The motor I I, on the shaft of which a pinion I2 is mounted, is mounted within the housing 4 on a base Ila 50 with its shaft parallel to the drive shaft 9. The pinion I2 is meshed with a gear I3 carried by the shaft Si.l Obviously the motor I I may be fed from any suitable source of electrical energy such as the battery of an automotive vehicle (not shown) 55 through suitable control means such as a. switch or rheostat (not shown).

Within each of the chambers 5 suitable sand dipping means is provided for picking up sand from the receptacle formed by the lower portion of the chamber 5 and delivering the picked up sand into sand conducting means comprising the compartment E and the conduit 8. To this end the end portion of the shaft 9 disposed within the chamber 5 has a double-armed rotatable element I4 rigidly mounted thereon. A sand dipping cup I5 is mounted on the outer end of each of the arms of the double armed element I4. The portion of the cup I5 disposed farthest from the shaft 9 is rectangular in shape and open on the side thereof facing in the direction of rotation thereof so as to form a lip I5a, which, as the shaft is rotated, passes the arcuate bottom portion 5a of the receptacle 5 in closely spaced parallel relation thereto, so as to dip sand from the lower portion of the receptacle 5. The inner side |521 of the cup I5, that is the side nearest the shaft 9, is inclinedrtoward the extended axis of the shaft 9 and outwardly of the box 3 and is extended outwardly of the main portion of the cup I5 to a point at which' it will just clear the outer wall 5b ofthe receptacle 5 as the shaft 9 is rotated. Other portions of the cup I5 are suitably shaped to cooperate with the outwardly projecting portion of the inner side 15b of the cup I5 to form a discharge spout I5c directed in the same direction as the projecting portion vof the inner side I5b. It is to be noted that the spout I5c is the lowermost portion of the cup I5 and is at a higher level than the top of the wall 5b between the receptacle 5 and the compartment 6 when the cup I5 is in the upper portion of the annular path thereof and, hence, will, at such time, discharge the contents of the cup I5 over the Wall 5b into the compartment 6.

In normal use of my road sander the box 3 thereof is filled to Aany desired level with dry sand S or other suitable granular material. The motor II is connected to a suitable source of electrical energy through such control means that the motor may be Vnormally de-energized but may be energized 'when desired through suitable manipulation of the control means. The control means should be situated for rapid and convenient access thereto by the driver of the Vehicle in which my sanding apparatus is installed.

Sand will flow from the lower portion of the box 3 through the aperture 'lv into the lower portion of the receptacle 5 by gravity until the sand in the lower portion of the receptacle 5 has reachedfa level or depth at which it will block further passage of sand through. the aperture or passage 1. As sand is removed from the receptacle 5 more sand will pass through the passage 1 to maintain a substantially constant depth of sand in the receptacle 5. The depth of the sand in the receptacle 5 will remain substantially the same regardless of changes in the depth of sand in the box 3.

The lower sand filled portion of the receptacle 5 functions as a dip trough through which the dip cups I5 are passed as the shaft 9 is rotated. Each time one of theY cups passes through thisV dip trough it will pick up and partially ll itself with sand from the dip trough. Since the depth of sand in the dip trough is constant the cups I5 will always pick up the same amount of sand on each trip thereof through the dip trough.

As each sand laden cup I5 reaches the upper portion of its annular path the sand therein will. fall toward the inner side I5b of the cup I5 and, because of the inclination of the inner side |51), will slide therefrom and be discharged from the spout I5c over the wall 5b into the compartment E. Thus the rotating dip cups I5 constitute means for transferring sand from the receptacle 5 into the compartment 6 in a series of like quantities of sand delivered respectively at uniformly spaced intervals of time resulting in transfer of sand at a constant volume thereof per minute. The rate of sand delivery can of course be varied as desired by suitably varying the speed at which the shaft 9 is driven.

Sand received in the compartments 6 will flow by gravity therefrom through the respective apertured lower portions thereof into the respective conduits 8 which will conduct the sand to points just ahead of the wheels of the vehicle and a short distance above the road or other surface R upon which the vehicle is travelling. Sand issuing from the open lower ends of the conduits 8 will obviously fall upon the road surface just ahead of the wheels W so as to provide a sanded path for each of the wheels W.

To use my device in connection with stopping a vehicle or preventing an expected skidding of the vehicle the motor I I is, of course, started precedingthe application of brakes or reaching of a surface or situation conducive to skidding. The device may of course also be used to facilitate starting a vehicle on a slippery surface. The motor II should be stopped as soon as the need for sanding the road surface is ended so as to conserve the supply of sand.

My device is economical lin its consumption of sand since it may be easily and quickly placed into and out of operation and will feed sand only at a certain rate regardless of the amount of sand inthe box 3 or the amount of vibration resulting from movement of the vehicle. The use of sand valves or stop gates is entirely obviated and hence possibility of clogging of such elements is eliminated.

It is apparent that I have invented a novel, simple, inexpensive, economical, reliable and quickly and easily controllable road sanding apparatus for vehicles capable of delivering sand to a road surface at a substantially unvarying rate.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the various parts without departing from the scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is:

Road sanding apparatus for wheeled automotive vehicles including a receptacle for granular material, means for supplying said material to said receptacle to maintain a substantially constant depth of material in said receptacle, a rotatable element, a dip cup carried by said ro tatable element in such position as to dip into said material during one portion of a revolution to pick up a portion of said material, said cup having a material receiving opening in the side thereof facing in the direction of rotation, a discharge spout on the radially inward portion of said cup directed at an angle to the plane of rotation of said cup, and means for receiving material discharged from said spout and conducting the same to a point ahead of a wheel of said vehicle.

ROBERT L. BOWMAN. 

